Needles and Pins

I am J · Apr 9, 2017

He didn't sound like he'd be fine to her. Ji-Hye gave herself a mental shake. She couldn't help but worry after her patients, even more so the troublesome ones, but her job was truly to heal the body. The mind, though she was metaphorically connected was not her concern.

Instead of speaking her concerns she just nodded.

Ji-Hye rolled her eyes. "Sure, a thunderstorm sounds like a good idea. 'here lies Lochlann, struck down by lightening while poorly serenading like a cat.' I'll be sure to get it on your tombstone." Though she rolled her eyes and spoke like a flat line, she was grinning by the end.

She nodded at his thanks in a way that said she was thanked nearly daily and though every thank you was worth it's weight in each syllable she was outwardly numbed to the words. As he asked about showering her lips pulled down in a grimace as though she was unhappy to even consider it. "I suppose if you covered them with saran wrap and tapped them off, like a tattoo and kept your back to the water, and you were very careful..." she shook her head. "And coat the stitches in LMX thickly to act as a barrier beneath the wrap."

She didn't like the idea at all but she was beginning to sense a resistance to being submerged or some kind of fear of the bath tub itself, given this and the way he had initially resisted being put into her tub.

She nodded and left him leaning against the door frame to move around the front room. It was neat but cluttered. She found a second coat, not bloodstained, hanging over the back of a chair and then stuffed her bare feet into a pair of bright yellow rain boots that had been discarded carelessly at the door.

Ji-Hye was once again relieved to be turned down to her offer of letting him sleep on her couch. She felt a twinge of guilt but mostly the relief flooded it away. "Well, honestly I don't want a stranger on my couch but...." she trailed off. "It would have been better if you'd have come to the hospital," she added again. She'd drive her point home every chance she got. "No," she replied firmly, "I'll walk you. I don't need it on my conscience if you pass out in the road somewhere. Besides, if someone happened across a passed out, newly stitched up dude in the road they'd take you straight off to the hospital like any sensible person would."

She collected her keys and her phone, pocketing them, and then ducked under his arm again and opened the front door. "I'd offer to drive but I have a moped and I'm not sure you're in the shape to hold on properly?" she made it a question.
@ReD

OOC: don't RP divorce me! I'm so sorry but I promise I'm back around now!

ReD · Apr 9, 2017

"That would be a romantic way to die," Lochlann flashed a slow, pained grin at her, the kind that was charming when he wasn't exhausted. "'Here lies Lochlann, struck down by lightening while poorly serenading like a cat. He died doing what he loved.' And then i'd get the song lyrics I died singing on there, too."

Lochlann must confess to himself, he liked watching her face move. The way she pulled her lips into a grimace but conceded was endearing.

"Thank you," he said again. He was still breathing hard but it was coming easier now that he had some time to stand. He made a note to get saran wrap. 'I can be very careful when I need to be."

He thought about trying to demonstrate something to show how careful he could be, but after consideration, the most careful thing he could do was so stand there without moving.

While he was still resistant to going to the hospital in the context of the couch, but the idea of being taken to the hospital if he passed out on the road won him over. Lochlann was stubborn but he was also exhausted. If he had to, he could probably bolt, but Lochlann didn't want to have to use any energy he didn't have to.

He stared at her blankly about the moped as he wracked his mind for the appropriate image to coincide with the word.

"I don't think I'd get blood on your coat," he said. "And i think I can probably hold on. It would be faster for you?"

Holding on also seemed less emasculating than having her half-carry him the way home like she had through the hallway. For a brief moment, his face flushed with shame again.

I am J · Apr 10, 2017

Ji-Hye shook her head at him with mock exasperation. "You're absolutely impossible. But for the record I like Brian Setzer, Social Distortion, Ramones, and Stray Cats. They aren't particularly known for their romantic lyrics." She gave his a sideways smile. "But it's on you if you decide to die to lyrics like 'I wanna be sedated'."

Despite how stubborn he was, and the crick in her neck that occured because he was too darn stubborn to go to the hospital and she'd spent more then an hour bent over a bath tub, and despite the vague sense that he gave her some creeps, she found that she liked the banter back and forth. It was a welcome break to the monotony of her day. She could never take him seriously but the playfulness was fun.

Ji-Hye side eyed him, dark eyes almost narrowing, upon his comment that he could be very careful when needed. She thought: clearly not when you show up on a strangers doorstep begging for help, bleeding profusely. Out loud she said: "Just make sure you do. Stitches, while a real pain in the ass, I can deal with in the bath tub. Infection is a lot more serious. You'd need antibiotics and those come from the pharmacy." And she wouldn't be stealing from the pharmacy and risking her job for a childishly stubborn man-child.

"No," she replied. "I've cleaned up all of your blood, it's bandaged properly. Unless you behave recklessly and tear the stitches there should be very little more bleeding. The moped would be faster but I also don't mind walking." She helped him out the door, turned to lock it, and then helped him navigate the narrow stairway, then guided him towards covered space in the parking lot where bicycles were lined up and at the end, a shiny red, very retro little moped.

His shame washed over her in ebbing waves again. Ji-Hye fought the urge to shake her head. She couldn't pin point what made him feel ashamed and it wasn't really her business anyways but she badly wanted to reassure him, of what though...

She gestured with one hand at the moped. "Thank you could handle that? The bumps are going to hurt but it would be quicker then walking."

ReD · Apr 11, 2017

Lochlann gave her another tired grin.

The banter was distracting. It made him feel relatively normal, as normal as he could feel when he'd been stitched back together and he was exhausted.

"I mean, 'Somebody to Love' might be a good option for beneath the window, or doorstep, or other location of choice."

Lochlann took everything she said to heart. He filed this in ways not to go to the hospital and that deepend his gratitude towards her.

Lochlann eyed it. Could he handle it? He wanted to say, Well, i made it to find you after i spent most of the day bleeding, I can handle this. But it would just reaffirm his own position as an idiot, so instead, he nodded.

"It looks like a small...llama," he said. He'd wanted to say horse but it looked nothing like a horse. He wondered if this would hurt. being in a car hurt sometimes because the air felt heavy and claustrophobic, all the iron teasing him.

He nodded.

He was leaning against the door frame and Lochlann closed his eyes for a minute. His head was swimming. Yeah, this would definitely be easier. After a moment he found his voice enough to make another feeble attempt at a joke. "Please don't tell me you're going to make me wear a helmet."

ooc:

if you want you can just assume he follows her on? feels like we're getting close to the end here.

I am J · Apr 12, 2017

Ji-Hye rolled her eyes at him again but her smile lingered on her pink painted lips. He was relentless. Instead of replying, she simply helped him towards the moped.

"A lama!" she mockingly exclaimed, trying to smoother a laugh. "How do you figure that?" she asked, helping him move his leg over the low, white seat. She kept the kick stand down and guided him to just straddle the bike while she climbed on in front of him.

"We should wear helmets," she told him gravely. "But I don't own any." She wouldn't have put her beautiful hair into a helmet. Besides, though it would be safer to wear safety gear the moped didn't reach any high speeds. "Ok, hold on here," she gestured to her waist. "On a normal day shoulders or the seat would be fine but I don't want you slipping off," she joked.

The moped started with a kick start and made a soft buzzing growl. "Where am I going?" she asked him as she eased them out of the space.

Ji-Hye followed his directions, taking turns exageratedly slow and slowing to ease over bumps, navigating around most potholes. She was making this trip as gentle as she could for him. When they arrived, she dismounted the moped and turned to check on him.

"How'd you fair?"

ReD · Apr 12, 2017

"I mean, it's got the...long neck, and the...stubby body," Lochlann said about the moped. "Maybe I'm thinking of an alpacca. I'm not really certain of the differences. "

This was Lochlann's first time riding a moped or any kind of vehicle like it and he was utterly fascinated. His pain was forgotten and he'd like to say he forgot his exhaustion, too, but it was all he could do to hold onto her and not close his eyes and rest his head against her back. Her cotton candy hair was so close to him and he thought it smelled good, very good.

The sides of the vehicle tinged him a little bit, in an uncomfortable kind of way, but not nearly as bad as it was being in a car. Steel didn't hurt him as much as iron. It was uncomfortable but not painful; sort of how sitting on a pile of rocks isn't the same as being crushed by them. The copper in it probably helped, but Lochlann didn't know shit about why iron hurt him or why steel didn't. He didn't care enough to learn.

But this opened up possibilities to him.

When they stopped and she asked him out he held up, Lochlann said, "Amazingly."

He didn't quite jump right off--he learned his lesson and he was trying to remember about being cautious-- so he stepped off carefully and held onto it for a moment, crouched over while he caught his breath.

"Thank you again," he said. He eyed the moped appreciatively. "I almost feel bad about calling it a llama now."

Lochann straightened back up and said, "I owe you one. I'm really serious about that. Please let me repay my debt to you. Anytime. Anywhere. I'll bleed for you if I need to. Just let me repay you."

He fished into his pocket and find his motel room key, a scraggly piece of plastic with the number 9 dangling off of it.

I am J · Apr 12, 2017

Ji-Hye found herself shaking her head once again at him, an amused smile touching her lips. "I just don't see it," she replied, squinting at the moped before mounting. "But I think maybe I'll call her the 'Llama' from now on. Isn't that what guys do? Name their cars?"

Periodically, Ji-Hye had dropped a hand to his to check that he was holding on well enough to not fall off of the back. It made her nervous riding the moped with him near faint on the back. It made her nervous to ride with anyone on the back for that matter. Ji-Hye didn't have many occasions to have someone on the back of her moped.

While Lochlann dismounted the moped, Ji-Hye pulled her hair down and regathered it from the wild mess the wind had made it, then scooped it back up into a messy pule again. As he appeared winded, she moved towards him and took his arm for support. She laughed at his remorse for dubbing the moped a llama. "Well, it doesn't matter now, I'll never be able to shake the image of a llama now." As he straightened she let her slim hand drop from his arm and began rooting around in her pockets.

"I think you've bled on me enough tonight, I won't need you to bleed for me." Her hands finally turned up a small packet from her jacket pocket and she pressed it into his hand holding the plastic key card. "Just get better, ok? That'll be good enough for me. This is some bandages, the LMX, some IBprophine 800. It's the best I can give you without being on the record." She pulled a pen from the same pocket and took his other hand, palm up, and scribbled a series of numbers, no name, no note. "And call me if anything feels wrong or you fever. Seriously, fever, call right away. It'll be an indicator of infection." She pocketed the pen and raised her honey eyes up to meet his. "Yes, ok?"

ReD · Apr 13, 2017

"I wouldn't know," Lochlann said. "I don't know how to drive."

That made him wonder though. Did his brother name the truck they had at the house? It made Lochlann feel an unexpected pang of longing to know what his family was up to.

He thought that, even if he felt bad for calling it a llama, having it now named the llama was...remarkably funny. He gave an unexpected laugh, short and dry, and he was grateful for her arm because he felt unsteady and drunk.

Lochlann had not been drunk in a long time.

Wen she started to write on his hand, Lochlann laughed again. His voice was still hoarse and he was more exhausted than ever. Now, being so close to the room, he didn't feel the need to try and escape, so his exhaustion overwhelmed him.

"So i got your number without having to sing outside your window after all," he said, be he looked at it and nodded, tryng to indicate that most of what she said registered. He was looking at the medicine and the LMX and felt an unexpected shiver creep through him.

"Thank you," Lochlann said again. Her eyes met his and he had a hard time keeping his gaze. She had very pretty eyes, but his vision felt off and his head still felt swimmy.

He gave her a small wave and another thank you. Lochlann thought about hugging her but decided against it last minute, instead just swaying at her with open arms like a bear for a moment before shaking his head and making his way to the room.

He opened the door and barely closed it behind him. The sheets were stained and crusted with his blood but Lochlann didn't care. His eyes were closed before he even completely collapsed into the bed.

ji-hye's words played through his mind. Her number was on his palm.

Lochlann felt safe.

Except

His sheets still smelled like Guin.

ooc: i think this is an okay place to end so i killed the thread! if you want me to edit, let me know! I am happy to~

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Needles and Pins

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

I am J

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere